February 28, 2000

Matthew Broderick finds his comic groove

By Alexander Stevens, Town Online

Matthew Broderick claims not to know his Q-rating - the number that measures how well the public recognizes an actor and how well it likes him. But here's an educated guess: it's through the roof.

It's hard to imagine the actor who's more likable, onstage or onscreen, than Broderick. Even when he's playing people who aren't particularly likable, he's likable. That was true with his terrific turn as the unprincipled teacher in the underappreciated "Election," and it was certainly true of his defining performance in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

"I don't feel trapped by [being likeable]," says Broderick, after a recent rehearsal for the new stage comedy "Taller Than a Dwarf," which tunes up at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, starting March 7, before heading on to Broadway. "One of the fun things about the guy I'm playing [in 'Taller Than a Dwarf'] is that he's not particularly nice."

In the comedy, written by Elaine May and directed by Alan Arkin, Broderick plays Howard, a man who, along with his wife (played by Parker Posey) struggles financially. One morning, everything goes wrong as he tries to get to work. Defeated, he retires to bed, where he plans to spend the rest of his life.

"The play basically centers on trying to get this guy to go back to work," says Broderick.

Broderick, who turns 38 this month, says one of the things he looks for when he chooses a role is whether or not it will allow him to grow as an actor.

"I try to do stuff that I haven't done before," he explains, "although I don't always manage that. But I do try, because I enjoy stretching."

And there's been more stretching in Broderick's career than one might first remember. Broadway fans may forever link Broderick to some very fruitful collaborations with Neil Simon - Broderick originated the lead roles in both "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (for which he won a Tony Award) and "Biloxi Blues."

Film people will probably forever attach him first to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." But don't forget his strong performance as a young man poisoned by his own racism in Athol Fugard's "Master Harold and the Boys." And, early in his career he took an admirable risk, playing a gay hustler-turned-model in Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy."

Recently he's jumped between disparate projects like "Godzilla," "Election" and "Inspector Gadget."

But his role in "Taller Than a Dwarf" covers some familiar ground for Broderick, who says Elaine May has written a script that's similar in tone, pace and delivery to the work of Simon. But Broderick likes the nastiness within Howard, even if the character aims to please on the outside.

"[Howard] definitely would have a high Q-rating among the people who don't know him well," he says.

This acting career seems to have come quite easily to Broderick, son of the late actor James Broderick. On the same day that he landed the lead role in "Brighton Beach Memoirs," Broderick got a featured role in the film "Max Dugan Returns," and suddenly Broderick - barely 20 - had launched an impressive career both in film and on Broadway.

But "easy" isn't the right word, Broderick assures.

"I feel completely blessed, if I look at the big picture," he says. "But, at the same time, once you're in [the profession], you're always worried, always thinking this [project] isn't as good as it should be, and disappointed in the way things come out."

Broderick hopes some bigger stretches await him in the future. And he knows there's a hole or two in his resume.

"I'm kind of scared [of the idea], but I'd like to do a classic play," he says. "I almost had the chance to do [Henrik Ibsen's] 'The Wild Duck.' I'd love to take a crack at that. I love reading and watching Chekhov, and I probably shouldn't die without trying [a Chekhov play] some day. And of course, there's Shakespeare - he's not bad."

The problem with doing Shakespeare, Ibsen and Chekhov is that you can't confer with the playwright, an opportunity Broderick takes advantage of in "Taller Than a Dwarf."

"[Doing] an original play is fun because the author is there, and they can rewrite, so in a way you get to be a part [of the creation of the play]," he says. "You try very hard to make a scene work, and sometimes if it doesn't, the writer will say, 'Maybe it's my fault,' and they rewrite it. That's kind of exciting. I got to do that with Neil [Simon] a lot."

That kind of last-minute rewriting is one of the reasons to open a show in Boston, prior to Broadway - the playwright, director, cast and crew get the chance to work out the kinks in the untested play.

"I did a play in New York that had no out-of-town [preview], and the problem is that your friends and a lot of people who work in the theater come very early to see it, so you don't get to try it out before," says Broderick. "You know what else is nice about being out-of-town? You get to focus just on [the play]. You're in a hotel, and you're just there to work. When I'm at home, it's a little different."

Broderick, a born-and-bred New Yorker, still lives in the city. In fact, his SoHo home is just six blocks from where he grew up. A perk of this job is that when "Dwarf" lands on Broadway, he'll be able to stay at home when he works.

Broderick says another big factor in choosing his projects is the creative team. In the case of "Taller Than a Dwarf," that means big names like Elaine May and director Alan Arkin. And Broderick says working with Parker Posey, best known as "the queen of independent films," has been another treat.

"I love working with Parker Posey," he says. "I have a very nice scene with her at the end of the play that's very quiet and not as funny, where she tells me she's proud of me. It's nice to have a longer, more complicated scene with a good actor, so I've been enjoying that a lot."

Broderick doesn't offer a prediction on whether "Taller Than a Dwarf" will be a hit, and even if he did, he says his guess wouldn't be worth much.

"I never know," he confesses. "When I saw ['Ferris Bueller'], I thought, 'Well that's good, but I don't think it will appeal to very many people.' I had no idea."